The Art of Talking
by lunastars
Summary: "Suddenly two small arms wrapped around his middle, and suddenly Bobby found it easier to breathe. He had come here yelling at his brother, which turned into a discussion in which Jack needed to be comforted but now all of a sudden Bobby was the one being comforted. Funny how things work out." - T for swearing.


"Open up the door, ya little fairy!"

Jack curled up on his bed as Bobby pounded on the door, shouting at him to open up the door and come out. But Jack didn't. This wasn't exactly a rare occasion. Bobby getting angry definitely wasn't rare, and it still scared Jack half to death. Of course maybe this whole thing could have been avoided.

He had arrived home from school barely twenty minutes ago to find Bobby, Jerry and Angel in the living room. Ma must have popped out. It didn't seem so strange until he saw how tense Bobby looked. When he'd locked eyes with his older brother Jack knew something had happened, and all of a sudden Bobby started yelling at him. He hadn't done anything so he just took off up the stairs only just managing to shut and lock his door before Bobby reached it.

And this is where they were now. Bobby didn't seem to falter as he continued to shout and hammer the door with his fists. Surely he knew that Jack hadn't done anything? But then again, when did Bobby ever think rationally about anything?

A sigh of relief left Jack as the assault on his door stopped. He heard Bobby move away from the door and he knew that things were only getting worse. He quickly rolled off of the bed and moved to the other side of the room just as Bobby came crashing through the now broken door. He misplaced his feet and fell face first onto Jack's bed.

Jack would have laughed, but Bobby was up in a flash and darting towards him. Jack tried to duck away and get to the door but Bobby's arm was around his waist and pulling him back. He swung them both round so that he could keep Jack on the side of the room that didn't have the door. He stalked closer, intending on keeping Jack still so he could talk to him, but instead he froze.

Jack was curled up in a ball just under his window. He was holding his hands up as if shielding his face.

"I didn't do anything!" he yelled. "Please, I didn't do it, I promise. Shane- I mean, I mean, Sir, please!"

"Jack," Bobby yelled back as he knelt down and took a hold of him.

But Jack only thrashed about, attempting to get away. Bobby could see his eyes were snapped shut and tears rolled down his cheeks. He kept his grip on Jack and forced him to look. When he finally did Jack kept on crying but seemingly relaxed.

"Stupid fairy, I wasn't going to hurt you."

"Yes you were." But Bobby could tell by his tone of voice that Jack wasn't as afraid as he was a few moments ago.

"No," Bobby said sternly. "I was angry sure but I'd never take that out on you, ever. I just wanted to talk. OK, so I might have put you in a headlock or some shit but I'd never lay a hand on you, you know that."

"Then why did you want in here so badly?" Jack sniffed.

Bobby helped him up and moved him over to sit on the bed. "Because there's something we need to talk about."

"I've been at school," Jack whined. "I didn't do anything. It was probably Jerry or Angel."

"Trust me, I know it was you," Bobby sighed. "And I've had to wait for you to get home so I could talk about it, let's just say that's only made me get angrier and angrer."

"You know what was me?" he asked quietly.

Bobby reached into his back pocket and held up a packet of cigarettes. Jack stared at them then to his headboard where he had taped them behind. Could they be his?

"I found them earlier," Bobby explained. "I saw you with one this morning when I dropped you off. Damn car wouldn't stop so I didn't drive away as soon as. I caught you hanging around the gates, one of those dangling from your mouth."

"They're mine," Jack said as he reached for them but Bobby snatched them away.

He tried again but Bobby pushed Jack back onto the bed. He straddled his chest, using his knees to hold Jack's shoulders down. He kept his head back a little and the packet out of reach as Jack continued to stretch for them.

"You're not getting them back," Bobby told him.

"They're mine!" Jack cried. "Give me them back, I need those."

"Fuck sake Jack, these things will kill you, may take a while but eventually they'll kill you," Bobby snapped. "Is that what you want?"

"No," he said quietly. But Bobby knew he had asked a stupid question. He knew damn straight that his little brother probably wouldn't care if he was killed, but he believed Jack didn't have cigarettes for that reason. It would take too long.

"You're sixteen Jack, why do you need these?"

"They help," he whispered.

"Help? Help with what?"

"Everything."

"Jack you're safe here, you get that right? Sure we all fight a lot but you're still safe. You've been here for about eight years now. You don't need help with anything and even if you do you should come to us, not these."

"I deal with things my own way," Jack snapped. "Now give them to me!"

"No!" Bobby yelled causing Jack to shrink back. "Explain to me in crisp detail why you need these and I'll _think _about giving them to you."

"Remember that summer I went to camp?"

"Sure, I remember calling you a fairy even more when you got back to make up for for all that time I couldn't," Bobby smirked.

"I wasn't at camp."

"Then where the fuck were you?" Bobby demanded. "Did Ma know?"

"Yeah Ma knew, of course she knew."

"Then where fuck were you?"

"Ma found out that I bought drugs," Jack said quietly, so quietly that Bobby almost didn't hear. "I'd used them before, or been exposed to them at least. One of my foster Mum's boyfriends used, and I figured I'd try a little more and... Well I forgot to lock my door and Ma walked in. I was in therapy and she didn't want you lot teasing me and making things harder so she had me stay somewhere safe and told you lot I'd gone to camp."

"We wouldn't have teased you or made it harder," Bobby ground out. "Not if we knew."

"But you wouldn't have known," Jack countered. "We were never going to tell you so it would have been the same old teasing."

"Jack you should-" But a thought struck Bobby suddenly. "You'd not long turned fourteen when you went to camp. Where the hell did you get drugs?"

"I know some people," Jack mumbled.

"You _know _some people?" Bobby questioned. He wasn't angry at Jack or the fact that he felt he had to result to drugs for his problems. No, he was angry at the fucker who sold him the drugs in the first place. "How did you even afford them?"

"I sold my amp," Jack shrugged. "I was prepared to tell Ma or you guys that it blew out, you wouldn't know if it was fixable or not."

The kid had sold his fucking amp. He must have really wanted those drugs. "Jack, why?"

"I needed them," he pouted.

"Needed them? No," Bobby shook his head. "You needed to come and talk to me, or Jerry or Angel or even Ma. You didn't have to go and do that!"

"I don't fit in here," Jack blurted out.

"Come again?"

"I don't," Jack said sternly. "You, Angel and Jerry are all the same. Yeah there's slight differences but you're pretty much the same, I'm completely different to all three of you. I play that racket, I wear gay clothing and I certainly don't have the same interests or taste. I felt like you wouldn't understand, and even if you could, why would I want you to know?"

Racket. Gay clothing. All words Bobby had used in the past and for a moment he wished he could take it all back. "Because I'm your brother," Bobby snapped.

"You know what happened to me before I came here," Jack ground out. "Don't act like you don't. And I know you three had a shitty life too so don't just tell me you get over it and it stops hurting, because Bobby it doesn't. I was sick of feeling like I did and I wanted to..."

"Wanted to what?"

"I didn't want to die if that's what you're thinking," Jack whispered. "I just wanted to be free for a moment, to not have to worry or remember."

"And these?" Bobby asked, holding up the packet of cigarettes again.

"I never had enough money for those drugs again," Jack sighed. "So I figured I'd try those."

"And these help?" Bobby asked in disbelief.

"Well, at the very least my mind thinks that they do," Jack shrugged. "Who am I to tell it otherwise?"

"Who are you to tell your mind otherwise? How about a kid who wants to live and not die of fucking cancer one day?"

"Shut up, Bobby, I'd die of much worse if I'd kept to the drugs!" And the sickening thing was that the kid was right, just like he always was. "Plus, Ma knows."

That took him by surprise. "Ma knows?"

"Yeah, she knows, she didn't understand either but she was over the moon that I chose those over more drugs."

Bobby sighed and got up off of his brother. He threw the packet at him and sat on the edge of the bed. He felt it dip as Jack crawled towards him.

"Please don't be angry," he whispered.

"Why didn't you just talk to me?"

"Bobby, you're not really one to sit around and talk about feelings."

And Jack was right, Bobby wasn't the kind to sit around and talk about feelings. It wasn't the Bobby Mercer way, but then again he'd never had to. Ma had tried to get him to open up every so often but he normally found a way out of that. Could he really be angry at Jack for not coming to him? Especially when Jack seemed to know that it wasn't his brother's forte.

Bobby let out a low groan as he held his head in his hands. He didn't know what to do. On the plus side he was over the moon that Jack picked the less dangerous way of coping but on the negative side of things he was torn between wanting his brother to talk to him and his hatred of discussing feelings.

Suddenly two small arms wrapped around his middle, and suddenly Bobby found it easier to breathe. He had come here yelling at his brother, which turned into a discussion in which Jack needed to be comforted but now all of a sudden Bobby was the one being comforted. Funny how things work out.

* * *

A/N: _This is my first fic for Four Brothers. It's just a random thought that popped into my head one day and I figured I'd get it out there. It really had no ending in my head, so I just sort of kept going until it felt right to stop but I hope ya'll like it anyway._

_R&R_


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